Shyster wrote:To offer somewhat of a defense of the Sharp Edge being complacent, I would remember that their focus has always been on Belgian beers, not all types of beer in general. Sure, they have beers from other places, but I’ve never expected them to be a go-to place for American micros or anything like that.

You're right. And I am probably guilty of expecting a bit too much out of them. But even sticking with just Belgians, they are very complacent. It is the same list all the time. Piraat, gulden draak, karmeliet, bavik, duvel, chimay, grimbergen, leffe, palm, wittekerke. Maybe a handful of others, 3 or so of which rotate every now and then. That's a hair beyond 'Belgian Beer for Beginners,' to be honest. Their bottle list is just about as static, with a lot of overlap with the drafts.

I was looking at some other options for my DC trip and I came across Belga Cafe. 13 PDF pages of bottles, going way deeper into Belgian styles than Sharp Edge. The two other Belgian options I found, Granville Moore's and Brasserie Beck also have superior options. It's D.C. vs. Pittsburgh, I realize, but Sharp Edge is not doing what they should be doing well (Belgian beers), at least not against any standard other than the no competition standard Pittsburgh provides.

my wife wanted me to grab a case of duck rabbit amber ale yesterday, i stop at the local distributor and they have 1 case left however the date on the box said 12 9 12. I asked the college kid working if they had a newer case as this is about 6 months old. He says, "no bro, thats the born on date", to which I reply "well it appears someone has come from the future and placed the duck rabbit porter there as it says 07 12 13" He then said I could buy the case and return it if it's bad.

Would that be to far past to even consider that or would the shelf life still be OK? I'd rather just get a fresh case, but he made a big deal about getting another in.

eddysnake wrote:my wife wanted me to grab a case of duck rabbit amber ale yesterday, i stop at the local distributor and they have 1 case left however the date on the box said 12 9 12. I asked the college kid working if they had a newer case as this is about 6 months old. He says, "no bro, thats the born on date", to which I reply "well it appears someone has come from the future and placed the duck rabbit porter there as it says 07 12 13" He then said I could buy the case and return it if it's bad.

Would that be to far past to even consider that or would the shelf life still be OK? I'd rather just get a fresh case, but he made a big deal about getting another in.

Shelf life with beer is a tricky thing. Different styles have different shelf lives and breweries do different things with dates (ie born on dates, best by dates, freshest by, etc.) I know that IPA's that have sat for too long start to lose alot of the hoppy and floral notes that I love about them, but I've let stouts and porters sit well past the best buy, and they have been fine, even better sometimes. Honestly, if I were in your position, I'd probably buy it and if it's really bad or noticeably off, then return it but it should be fine.

It all comes down to opinion, the shelf life matters more to some people than others. But in short, it's probably okay.

eddysnake wrote:my wife wanted me to grab a case of duck rabbit amber ale yesterday, i stop at the local distributor and they have 1 case left however the date on the box said 12 9 12. I asked the college kid working if they had a newer case as this is about 6 months old. He says, "no bro, thats the born on date", to which I reply "well it appears someone has come from the future and placed the duck rabbit porter there as it says 07 12 13" He then said I could buy the case and return it if it's bad.

Would that be to far past to even consider that or would the shelf life still be OK? I'd rather just get a fresh case, but he made a big deal about getting another in.

Shelf life with beer is a tricky thing. Different styles have different shelf lives and breweries do different things with dates (ie born on dates, best by dates, freshest by, etc.) I know that IPA's that have sat for too long start to lose alot of the hoppy and floral notes that I love about them, but I've let stouts and porters sit well past the best buy, and they have been fine, even better sometimes. Honestly, if I were in your position, I'd probably buy it and if it's really bad or noticeably off, then return it but it should be fine.

It all comes down to opinion, the shelf life matters more to some people than others. But in short, it's probably okay.

Thanks. I fear my delay in picking this up yesterday will result in something new from public day at Southern Tier this weekend. Looking forward to trying out their 2X Steam

If I may pull out my cane and yank my pants up to my armpits, I think a little perspective is in order. The pretty much entire history of American craft/micro brewing is something that has taken place during my lifetime. Anchor first brewed Liberty Ale in 1975 (the year of my birth), and Sierra Nevada came along in 1979/1980. Jim Koch didn’t start brewing beer (in other companies’ breweries) until 1984. Many of the leading micros these days (Dogfish Head, Stone, Victory, etc.) still aren’t old enough to go to college. Back in the 1970s if you wanted something other than generic American beer, you were either looking at a Guinness or a Euro copy of generic American beer (like say Heineken). Now there are so many beers on the market of so many types that beer drinkers are facing choice overload.

So have a beer and consider how lucky you are to have decent beer. And stop sniping at bars that don’t have 10,000 beers to choose from. Your grandpa probably had two. And, finally, get off my lawn.

Shyster wrote:If I may pull out my cane and yank my pants up to my armpits, I think a little perspective is in order. The pretty much entire history of American craft/micro brewing is something that has taken place during my lifetime. Anchor first brewed Liberty Ale in 1975 (the year of my birth), and Sierra Nevada came along in 1979/1980. Jim Koch didn’t start brewing beer (in other companies’ breweries) until 1984. Many of the leading micros these days (Dogfish Head, Stone, Victory, etc.) still aren’t old enough to go to college. Back in the 1970s if you wanted something other than generic American beer, you were either looking at a Guinness or a Euro copy of generic American beer (like say Heineken). Now there are so many beers on the market of so many types that beer drinkers are facing choice overload.

So have a beer and consider how lucky you are to have decent beer. And stop sniping at bars that don’t have 10,000 beers to choose from. Your grandpa probably had two. And, finally, get off my lawn.

I've been told that before prohibition there were ~4,000 breweries in this country. In the early 80's that number was down to about 80 now there's close to 3,000. And that Anchor was where the microbrew revolution started.

I'm so grateful that there are countless beers out there to try. No if i could only convince my sister that bud lite lime isn't a good beer

It's easy to get spoiled. My formative years were spent working in a beverage store that specialized in micros. Everything that Vermont had to offer, plus plenty of other stuff. Then I moved to PA where it was much harder to find variety at all. I'm not much of a bar person and bottle shops were few and far between. In NC it's easier to find a greater variety, which has been awesome. And the variety gets wider and wider every year.

count2infinity wrote:If I may, I've been able to drink (legally) for just over 5 years and I think I've tasted some of the best that is out there, and feel very lucky that there are so many choices and GOOD choices.

stopper40 wrote:I've been told that before prohibition there were ~4,000 breweries in this country. In the early 80's that number was down to about 80 now there's close to 3,000. And that Anchor was where the microbrew revolution started.

A book I can recommend on the topic is Beer Blast by Philip Van Munching (http://www.amazon.com/Beer-Blast-Brewin ... 0812930355). His family for years held the contract to import Heineken into the United States. Written back in 1997, the book covers the history of brewing and beer marketing (remember Spuds MacKenzie?) in the United States from an insider’s perspective. It’s out of print, but Amazon has plenty of used copies for less than a buck plus shipping. In addition to being somewhat educational, the book’s also pretty funny.

MWB wrote:It's easy to get spoiled. My formative years were spent working in a beverage store that specialized in micros. Everything that Vermont had to offer, plus plenty of other stuff. Then I moved to PA where it was much harder to find variety at all. I'm not much of a bar person and bottle shops were few and far between. In NC it's easier to find a greater variety, which has been awesome. And the variety gets wider and wider every year.

Beer is beautiful.

It's definitely easy to get spoiled. My love of craft beer and the establishment I work in have lead to that. I work with many co-workers who share the love for craft beer and we're always bringing in new things to try. What's funny is that being in Australia the last 2 weeks, their craft beer revolution is in its infancy here. It's JUST starting to catch on, probably similar to where the US was 10 or 15 years ago, long before I was old enough to drink or care about beer. It was at the age that I knew beer was that coors light stuff that my grandparents drank on their boat every summer. Now I have a renewed appreciation for the US's approach to craft beer and the special place it's found. It's kind of nice to be abroad and realize that we're pretty far ahead of the game on this one, at least in this round of the game. Makes me happy.